Lean Times for China's Pork Producers

Lasting Slide in Prices May Signal Long-Term Change in Familiar Cycle

Pork prices have suffered an unusually large and long slide in China, as supplies surge following Beijing's moves to encourage large-scale farms.

Heading down since mid-December, prices didn't perk up even for the Lunar New Year, when demand for pork spikes because it is used in traditional family holiday meals. By the second week of March, live hog prices were down 14% from a year earlier, at about 12.19 yuan ($1.97) a kilogram,...